Fitness of Keanes not a worry

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy yesterday was confident he will have a full strength panel to choose from for next month's crucial World Cup Group Two qualifying games against Portugal in Dublin (June 2nd) and Estonia in Tallinn (June 6th) when he named a squad of 25 for both games.

Recent injuries to Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane prompted speculation that one or both might miss the qualifiers. But McCarthy insists both of his first-choice strikers, as well as Roy Keane, Rory Delap and Damien Duff, none of whom travelled to Dublin for the Andorra game last month, will be ready for action for the visit of Portugal.

"The one that everybody's been talking about has been Robbie, but I talked to him when he picked up the knock and he said that he expected to be involved in Leeds's last game of the season," said McCarthy.

"As far as I know nothing has changed and so I still expect he will be fit enough to play some part in that game if Dave O'Leary chooses to bring him back.

"Aside from that, I'm not aware of anybody having any problems that might rule them out. It's always the case that someone might pick something up this weekend, but even if they do they'll still have two weeks to recover, so it would want to be fairly serious before we'd be telling them to forget about travelling."

Asked about whether he intended to whittle his 25-man squad down to 22 between now and the week of the Portugal game, McCarthy said that it is his intention that all 25 named yesterday will travel to Ireland and Estonia if they are fit.

"It makes sense to have a few spare bodies," he said, adding that, "apart from the fact that we have two games in such quick succession, I also have players like Kenny (Cunningham), Roy and Robbie on bookings.

"It's important that there is plenty of cover within the squad and that I keep my options open in case we do run into any problems, so my intention at this stage is that we'll get everybody together in Dublin and that everyone available will travel out to Tallinn."

McCarthy, meanwhile, has given Bohemians striker Glen Crowe an opportunity to show at first hand how well he compares to the players based overseas by asking the 23-year-old to train with the squad during the build-up to the games.

While welcoming the invitation, which he originally heard from journalists calling to get his reaction, Crowe insisted that he was not getting carried away with news just yet. "It's been a wonderful year for me," said the Dubliner, "and this is a great bonus, but let's not forget that it's just training. It wasn't something that I was expecting to happen, but it's nice to have."

The Ireland manager admits that he feels Crowe will be making "a massive jump" when he joins up with the rest of the squad over the last few days of this month, "but as far as I'm concerned at this stage, if one of the established strikers does have a problem or somebody gets injured during the build-up to the game, then I'll add him to the squad."

Don Givens, meanwhile, has asked four National League players to link up with him as he prepares the under-21s for their two European Championship matches. Galway's Bobby Ryan, Sean Prunty of Longford Town, Cork City's Alan Carey and Colm Foley of St Patrick's Athletic have all been asked to train with a squad that also includes Shelbourne striker Richie Foran.

Barry Quinn, Jason Gavin and Andy O'Brien, all of whom have been on the periphery of the senior squad over the past year, are included in Givens's panel, although more notable is the return of Leeds United midfielder Stephen McPhail, who has missed much of the current season through injury.

McPhail was last involved on the international scene last summer in the US where he featured in all of the Irish senior team's three games. The young Dubliner, who was last capped at under-21 level 18 months ago in Zagreb, is a likely candidate for promotion to the senior panel in the event of any problems with the midfielders.

While France have ended Brazil's seven-year reign at the top of the FIFA world ranking list, the Republic of Ireland have again made progress, moving up three places to 27 as a result of their strong form in recent World Cup qualifiers.

At the top of the list, World and European champions France have finally overhauled Brazil, who gained the number one spot after they won the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Argentina remain third.

While the strong start made by the Irish to the current qualifying campaign has lifted them into 27th position, they still remain some way behind their main group rivals, with Portugal's ranking of five unchanged from a month ago and Holland improving to eighth from 10.

England, meanwhile, are again ranked 14th, while Northern Ireland have slipped just outside the top 100 to 101.

Senior Squad

Kelly (Blackburn Rovers), Given (Newcastle United), Colgan (Hibernian), Kelly (Leeds United), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds United), Breen (Coventry City), Dunne (Manchester City), Cunningham (Wimbledon), Doherty, Carr (both Tottenham Hotspur), Roy Keane (Manchester United), Kinsella (Charlton Athletic), Carsley (Coventry City), McAteer (Blackburn Rovers), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Sunderland), Finnan (Fuham), Delap (Derby County), Kennedy (Manchester City), Duff (Blackburn Rovers), Farrelly (Bolton Wanderers), Quinn (Sunderland), Robbie Keane (Leeds United), Connolly (Feyenoord).

Under-21 Squad

Murphy (Tranmere Rovers), Roche (Nottingham Forest); Lynch (Leeds United), Byrne (West Ham), Gavin (Middlesbrough), O'Shea (Manchester United), Clarke (Stoke City), Quinn (Coventry City), Healy (Celtic), O'Connor (Stoke City), Reid (Millwall), O'Brien [RO ](Newcastle United), Sadlier (Millwall), Barrett (Arsenal), Reddy (Sunderland), Foran (Shelbourne), Delaney (Leicester City), McPhail (Leeds United). On stand-by: Stack (Arsenal), Foy (Nottingham Forest), George (Luton Town), Butler (Sunderland), Goodwin (Celtic).

World Rankings

Top 10: 1, France 796pts; 2, Brazil 794; 3, Argentina 763; 4, Italy 748; 5, Portugal 732; 6, Spain 724; 7, Czech Republic 722; 8, Netherlands 715; 9, Germany 711; 10, Paraguay 703.